24.03 | No Spare Parts
1 Corinthians 12
‘Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.’
1 Corinthians 12:27
My son Jake is a big Lego fan. He shares a room with his younger sister, and their room is essentially divided between Eeva’s toys, and Lego. Six plastic boxes of the stuff fill his shelves, and his desk is invariably strewn with the latest project.
One of the things that always amazes me with a new Lego set is that there’s virtually never a piece missing. Down to the tiniest pieces, whatever combination of human and machine gets together in Denmark to pack these boxes seems to nail it every time. And as if to sweeten the deal further, they often throw in a few spare pieces, particularly the kinds you’re most likely to lose along the way.
We’re picking up Corinthians after Paul’s switch of focus to the worship gathering. He began with head coverings and Communion. Now he’s going onto something else: spiritual gifts. It runs for three chapters. And Paul is keen to bring some things home to us.
Straight up, he expects the active operation of these gifts, in all their variety, in the worship gathering. He doesn’t view the gathering as a place where humans do things; he very much views it as a place where God comes and does things through the living presence of His Spirit. This assumption is so clearly shared by the Corinthians that he doesn’t spend a lot of time on it. It’s taken as a given.
However, he does want to straighten some things out. He wants to get to the heart and values behind how these gifts operate.
And particularly, today, he wants his readers to enter into a new vision for self and community.
For self, because there is always a danger in any community that we begin to create hierarchies in our minds.
For most of us, we look around at the magnificently gifted and able others in the room, feeling somewhat second rate. We magnify our weakness and minimise everyone else’s. Insecurity, imposter syndrome, and fear set in. And, reckoning our own contribution to be too flawed to be welcome, we become inactive. Inactivity leads to passivity. Which only furthers the cycles of our own diminished self of self. There’s few things more disempowering to the soul than being reduced to being a mere consumer.
And then there are also some who look around the room, less fearful of their weaknesses, but certainly reckoning some others in the room to have nothing real to offer. We make rapid assumptions on people, on the basis of their appearance or clothing or background or that thing that they said in that conversation last week. We relegate and put down in our hearts.
Whether we see it in ourselves or in others, we all look around and see some people as spare parts. Peripheral at best.
Paul writes to correct exactly these thoughts. And he does so by emphasising both the individuality and the togetherness of the Corinthians.
Individuality, because, in the economy and plans of God, every single person has a part to play. Every single person gets the Spirit, and every single person has gifts to offer. God simply doesn’t create ungifted people.
And togetherness, because, in the economy and plans of God, the community is deeply interdependent. That means that the absence of any member is to the detriment of the whole. That means that the overemphasis on any member is dishonouring to the whole. Exactly as with a human body, the various elements operate with precise synergy, each part unique and essential, and each part completely dependent on those around them.
So lies God’s vision for your community too.
So lies God’s vision for your life as a crucial part of this.
Nothing missing.
And no spare parts.
Reflect:
Think of the last time I gathered with other Christians.
What did I bring to the room? What did I receive from others?
Is there one thing I might change the next time we gather?
Pray:
Father,
This goes against the grain.
It’s easier to sit back and let others do it;
It’s safer to stay in my seat;
It’s more secure to hold back what I have to contribute.
But Father,
I recognise that inactivity leads to atrophy,
And that when there is no challenge,
There is also no growth.
I see that when I endlessly step back, and let others,
I am living a half life,
So far beneath what you created me for;
And I accept your word,
That my contribution is necessary for the fulfilment of your plans.
And so, Father,
Today, I step up and I step in:
To speak. To pray. To share. To contribute. To call up. To serve. To give. To build. To go.
And I ask you
To inflame my life with the presence of the Spirit,
That I may learn my giftings,
Not before I start,
But as I travel.
Take my hands, life, and heart,
And make them so very fruitful,
For the strengthening of your Church,
And the expansion of your Kingdom,
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Deuteronomy 14:1-16:20 | Psalm 37:27-40